This first chapter of your textbook starts with the building blocks of writing: words and simple sentences. A simple sentence includes a subject and a verb and an idea that makes the foundation for all the other types of sentences we write. It is crucial for you to understand what a verb is and what a verb is not. It is equally important for you to be able to accurately¹ identify the subject of a sentence. Once you know how to accurately identify the verb and the subject, you can create all types of sentences that will make your writing even better.

The easiest point to start with is the verb. Verbs can be either action words or being words. Verbs often need helpers so this chapter includes a list of helping² verbs. In addition, verbs often appear in other forms like -ing. These forms are not main verbs and this chapter explains how to identify these verbs.

Once you have located the verb(s) in a sentence, the next step is to find the subject. Finding the subject is as easy as asking the question "Who or what is doing that action?" Just as verbs have a few exceptions so do subjects. In this chapter you will learn about prepositional phrases and their role in a sentence. Chapter 1 also looks at complex word order and how to identify the subjects and verbs in a sentence when the word order is a little unusual.

Once you have mastered the basic building blocks of a sentence you will be ready to start writing sentences in various ways that will make your writing interesting.